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Ringk (Palm Cockatoo Totem XIII)

The Black Cockatoo, or the Palm Cockatoo, is the largest species of cockatoo. It boasts solid black feather colouration, large open crest, bare red cheeks, and a red and black tongue. The beak of this bird is so enormous that it never fully closes. The Black Cockatoo is found in Northern Australia on Cape York Peninsula.

A courting male cockatoo will choose a stick, trim it to size, and then drum with it on a hollow branch. Male and female may perform a drum duet when their chick is old enough to leave the nest. It is the only cockatoo that builds a nest. The male and female build it together during courtship by dropping sticks into a hollow log. The sticks collect and form a little platform. This keeps the egg and chick from drowning if water collects in the log's bottom.